


Expectations

by awfuldaycupcake



Series: Unrelated Christmas One Shots! [2]
Category: Thomas Sanders, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Long Time Crushes, M/M, They're wrapping gifts and it's cute, because hek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-13 13:23:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12984942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awfuldaycupcake/pseuds/awfuldaycupcake
Summary: Virgil doesn't hate Christmas, but he hates all of it's expectations. Logan... Well. He understands.





	Expectations

Virgil was alone in his room. Again. Nothing new. He was panicking. Again, nothing new. A scrappy, messy, balled-up pile of wrapping paper and ribbon lay on the ground in front of him. That was new. The frazzled, confused, and frustrated look in his eyes was also new. This whole thing felt new, even if it wasn’t.

It was Christmas. Virgil wasn’t the biggest fan of Christmas. It sparked a whole new set of things that could hurt Thomas. He could get sick, he could get depressed, he could slip and fall and break himself. It stressed Virgil out _far_ too much. And on top of that, there were expectations. People expected him to smile, to grin and bear it, to pretend like he was 100% happy during the Christmas season. Maybe Patton was good at pretending, but Virgil wasn’t.

Expectations also extended to presents. And that was even worse. Now that the other sides finally accepted him into their little cult, there were expectations. He had to get them gifts. He just _had_ to. He could barely imagine the look on Patton’s face if he found out he didn’t get him anything. Even worse, _Roman._ The jerk might literally murder him on the spot. It bugged Virgil to no end.

Finally Virgil had decided what to get them. For Roman, he went with writing supplies. He was creative, that was his job. Virgil picked out a gift card for some software that made formatting scripts super easy and threw it into an envelope. There. Job done.

Patton was a little more difficult. Virgil wanted to get him board games or something, something to placate him when he grew bored and Virgil was getting anxious. Something simple they could play together. He searched for a while before finding two card games, one called _Codenames_ and the other called _Werewolves of Millers’ Hollow._ Both had strong leadership positions, (for Thomas,) make-believe, (for Roman,) role-play, (for Logan,) and forced everyone to get along (for Patton.) He wouldn’t mind playing from time to time, either. It wasn’t a big deal, especially if the others enjoyed it.

The real big deal was wrapping.

It shouldn’t have been an issue, seeing as they were both small, rectangular boxes. The Werewolves game could practically fit in his hand, for crying out loud. But it wasn’t _working._ He’d used almost a whole roll of wrapping paper, collectively, trying to figure out what on Earth he was supposed to do for this stupid thing. Why did people do this anyway? It stops you from actually getting to your gift? There was no purpose in Virgil’s eyes. It was stupid.

What was even more stupid was that everyone else was so perfect at it. Roman’s gifts sat oh-so-perfectly under the tree, the wrapping perfect and the gifts covered in perfect bows and perfectly tied ribbon. It made Virgil want to shoot someone. And, like, if it had been Patton’s perfectly wrapped gifts under the tree it might not have bothered him, but Roman was the only one of the sides that wasn’t warming up to him. What was he doing wrong? Patton seemed to love him, and Logan…

_Logan._

Logan was a whole different story. He was smart, he was fascinating, he was calm and collecting and whenever Virgil was panicking, he was an anchor, something to hold on to. He was strong, he was stabilizing, he was relaxing, and. Well. Virgil wanted to _strangle_ the butterflies in his stomach, but that didn’t stop the fact that they were most definitely there.

So. Logan. What was he going to get Logan?

Virgil let out a frustrated groan, stuffing his head in his hands. God, he hated this. He hated all of this. He hated _expectations._

Virgil heard the sound of quick, heavy footsteps approaching the bedroom door. It took him a second that those footsteps were _in_ the mindscape and heading towards _his_ door, and weren’t outside with Thomas. It was hard to tell sometimes. Three sharp knuckle-raps hit against it, and Virgil quickly threw Patton’s gifts behind his back. Those weren’t Patton’s footsteps, he could tell, but Virgil had always been a ‘better safe than sorry’ type of person. “Hello?” He said. The door opened.

“I heard your distress.” Virgil looked up. Logan. Of course. Just when things couldn’t get any worse, throw the person he reluctantly cares for most into the mix. He was holding a blue, two-toned mug with weird parabolic and sine functions. Virgil already knew he was drinking coffee. It didn’t matter the time of day, Logan always had coffee. Virgil found that endearing. He knew that he shouldn’t, but he did anyway.

“Yeah. Sorry about that,” Virgil said, not sounding very sorry.

Logan looked down at Virgil. He… _understood_ him. Yes, the other sides were warming up to Virgil as well, but they did not _understand_ him. Roman did not make an effort to. Patton could sympathize with anything that breathed. Logan, alternatively, empathized.

The other two were loud, excited, and overall happy people. Virgil was not happy. Neither was Logan. They were on a different side of the Thomas-coin that Patton and Roman were. A different plane. They were all Thomas, yes, but different.

So when Logan stumbled upon Virgil, alone in the dark of his bedroom, attempting to (very clearly, to Logan,) wrap Christmas gifts, he understood. And he knew what to do.

Virgil was very confused when Logan sat down across from him on the floor, his lips sealed tight. He wasn’t saying anything. He was just… sitting there. Virgil shrugged. Whatever. It’s not like he minded Logan’s company, anyway. The guy was comforting. He’d said it before and he’d say it again. Virgil pulled Patton’s gifts out from behind his back. He knew Logan wouldn’t say anything to Patton. He wasn’t that type of guy. Virgil tried to wrap the little card game again. He grabbed the scissors, cutting a sloppy line against the light blue paper, cutting a few of the snowmen right in half. The cuts were jagged, but at this point he couldn’t really care. Virgil pulled the corners over, taping over the holes

It looked… _bad._

Virgil groaned again, ripping the wrapping paper off of the gift. God, he was so stupid. He couldn’t do a single thing right. Everything he’d ever made was ugly and bad and stupid and it was all his fault. He’d ripped and shredded so much paper and he was just getting _angry._ It was all his fault.

He was half expecting Logan to grab the tiny gift from his fingers and do it himself. But… he didn’t.

Instead, he grabbed the _Codenames_ game, the bigger of the two, and the darker blue roll of wrapping paper with decorative Peanuts characters from the pile. There was a second pair of scissors on the ground, this one larger with a purple handle. Logan looked up, his eyes meeting Virgil’s.

“The first thing you want to do is to set the gift itself down on the paper. This will allow you to measure the proportions, so you do not have to recut,” Logan said. Virgil narrowed his eyes, confused. What was he doing? “I recommend you do as I ask if you want to learn,” Logan said. Virgil moved the present to the center of the paper without questioning. “Very good. Now make sure to fold the other side across the present like this,” he said, folding the paper neatly. Virgil mimicked him. “And cut across the line here. It also will aid you to take the scissors and glide them across instead of making small, directionless cuts. Simply open them up further and let the momentum do the work,” Logan said.

Virgil watched his hands move, slowly. He was intentionally slowing down to show Virgil. Where did all of this tolerance come from? Virgil’s heart was beating very fast, but that did not stop the fact that this felt so _off_ for Logan. He was quick and sharp, but he wasn’t this patient. It was new.

“Fold the top over both ends to meet in the middle and tape closed. Do you have any tape?”

“Y-yeah,” Virgil stuttered out. “Right here.” He tossed the tape, throwing it towards him. Logan, of course, missed, but he picked it up soon after. He could never catch. Another thing Virgil found endearing. He was beginning to think his reasons were countless. Logan taped the gift shut, and gestured for Virgil to do the same.

“The next part is slightly more difficult. This part that sticks out on the end needs to fold down to create a crease. It should create a trapezoid-like shape from the white of the paper,” Logan said, folding to demonstrate. It really was easy, but Logan was kind of enjoying himself. Something about watching Virgil relax, following commands and patiently learning. It was cute.

And not like Patton-cute or puppy cute, but. _Cute._

Virgil pressed the corners down, but they looked nothing like Logan’s. Logan watched him do this, and unfolded his own to match Virgil’s. “This is a simple mistake, but it is very easy to fix. You take it apart like this,” Logan said, pulling them up, “and press them into place.” Virgil followed his example. “Think you could try that on the other side?”

Virgil flipped the present, looking at the other corners. He looked back to Logan carefully, afraid he might snap. Logan could get _angry._ He then pressed the flaps down, pulling them up to the edge and pressing the tape.

“You’re one step ahead of instruction. You are doing well,” Logan said. He finished off his gift as well, taping the edges shut. They were both completed, pretty, and ready to be set under the tree. “Satisfactory,” Logan said. “A+.”

Oh.

_Oh._

Virgil’s mind clicked. He looked back up to Logan, eyes wide. “You’re the teacher character.”

“Pardon?”

“Patton was the dad character, Roman was the prince character, and you’re the _teacher_ character. It’s so easy to forget, you’ve just always been _Logan_ to me,” Virgil said.

“Oh, yes. That is what you were referring to, Thomas’s figmentation of us. Well, yes, I understand. I suppose it would be easy to forget. I am…” Logan said, adjusting his glasses. “Forgettable.”

“N-No, that’s not what I meant--” Virgil started, but Logan had already stood up. In a spur of the moment Virgil jumped up next to him, pulling him into a hug. Words couldn’t always fix things.

It was over as soon as it started. Logan didn’t know what to do. His stomach was doing metaphorical flips and his mind was short circuiting and he was standing there, blank-faced and wide-eyed for far too long. Virgil looked to him with concern.

“Are you o-” Virgil started, but he was interrupted as Logan pulled him in for a bigger, longer hug. His head was wrapped around Virgil’s shoulders, his hands were clinging to his chest. Virgil felt strong. He felt supported, safe, and like he could take over the world.

He felt a small kiss on his forehead. His heart was in his throat.

When Logan pulled away he had on something that almost was a smile. Almost. “Virgil, how would you react to a proposition to aid me in wrapping my gifts for the other two? You have a certain knack for it. You are very talented.”

“I- what? I’m terrible, I wasted so much wrapping paper, I-”

“Virgil,” Logan said. It wasn’t spoken, but it was there. The understood. The expectation.

“It’s not for the gifts, not for the wrapping, not to pass the time. It’s not for some excusable, typically-logical reason. I just… I just want you with me.”

Now _that_ was an expectation Virgil could get behind.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm running suuuper behind, but the Winter Formal was this weekend and it was a BLAST so I'm not even sorry. Anyway the December 8th prompt was GIFT WRAPPING! Stick around for more!


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